Simulation of adaptive statistically multiplexed routing in ad hoc networks

This paper develops a solution to the problems of discovery, maintenance, and use of multiple routes in ad hoc networks. Performance criterion is the average time taken by a packet to reach its destination through multiple hops. A source node considers each of its reachable neighbors (by direct wireless transmission) as gateways for every possible destination. The effect of delay at a gateway and beyond, until the packet reaches its destination, is approximately modeled as an M/M/1 queuing system. Potential gateways at every node provide multiple routes. Multiple routes are statistically multiplexed to distribute the load as well as to deal with changes in data and network configuration. The potential of each gateway of a node is estimated on-line and the proportions of traffic routed through multiple gateways are also updated adaptively. Simulation results are presented and discussed.